HE'S MY EX, daniel seavey

24

ariella

"okay okay, listen up! time for a game of never have i ever. anyone who wants to play, form a circle around the fire pit!" a random guy yells.

"let's play! come on ella," tate drags me over to the circle, ignoring my protests. i do not want to play.

after a few minutes, the noise dies down and i take a look around the area.

the circle goes like this: eben, jonah, tate, kay, willow, me, corbyn, jack (gabbie had left earlier because of lavender and told jack to stay), zach, 2 random guys, corey, crawford, daniel, christian seavey, franny, nezza, jc, chelsey, oscar, dylan, will, alexis, kian, and one other girl.

i could already tell that this was going to be a mess.

"for those who don't know the rules, it's simple. someone will ask a question in the format of 'never have i ever' and if you have done it, put a finger down. be truthful and don't be a pussy," one of the random guys speaks again.

"i'll go first," the guy to his right says, "never have i ever... gotten so drunk that i blacked out or couldn't remember what happened."

"lame," someone shouts as some put a finger down. i think it over and slowly put a finger down too. tate, jonah, eben, jack, corbyn, corey, jc, will, dyl, the random guys and girl, and daniel put one down.

"next. never have i ever had a one night stand," this time franny asked the question.

the randoms, eben, crawford, daniel, alexis, zach, will, and willow each put a finger down. i was going to but technically it wasn't a one night stand so...

corey laughs, "damn. alright never have i ever... slept with more than one person that's in this circle."

i can feel the tension rise; this question is trouble.

no one dares to put their finger down first. we're all kind of awkwardly glancing at one another. i make eye contact with him before immediately looking away.

a loud sigh breaks the silence and daniel puts a finger down, "fuck you corey," he says jokingly.

"yikes. awkward," the nobody girl whispers, staring dead at me.

i roll my eyes and shrug my shoulders before putting a finger down too. this draws a few gasps from the circle.

"what?" i hear daniel ask but i ignore him. he sounds hurt but at the moment i don't really care.

tate and kay stare at me in shock, likely realizing that the "one night stand" i had told them about was with someone in this circle.

willow frowns and breaks the silence, "is that everyone? next question."

i throw her a grateful look. she's the only one who knows the whole story; the only one i know that won't judge.

"yeah... okay moving on. never have i ever-"

i don't bother listening to the rest of the sentence, my focus now trained on daniel as he gets up and storms away from the group.

there is another awkward pause before we continue the game.

willow nudges me, "maybe you should go speak to him."

"and say what?"

she shrugs, "the truth? that'd be a good start."

"lo, are you crazy? i can't tell him."

"well at least go make sure he's okay."

"it's not like he has any right to be upset," i mumble under my breath before standing and moving in the direction that daniel went.

i finally find him in the kitchen, chugging down a drink and quickly moving onto another one.

"daniel?" my voice comes out timid. i'm not exactly sure where this conversation is going to go.

he looks at me before rolling his eyes and trying to leave the room.

"daniel wait. look i wanted to see if you were okay but i can clearly see that you're not..."

"of course i'm not fucking okay! i just found out that my girlfriend had sex with someone i trust the most. how the fuck do you think that makes me feel?!"

i flinch at his loud tone, "i-i'm not your girlfriend anymore."

his eyes shut tightly as he runs his hands over his face, obviously stressed, "that doesn't change how it makes me feel ariella."

"and how do you think i feel, huh daniel? if you recall, i wasn't the only one who put a finger down."

"you already knew. i had no clue and i look like a fucking idiot hanging around someone who went after my ex and didn't bother to tell me," his voice cracks and i'm terrified that he'll start crying. he can get very sensitive sometimes and it used to always pull at my heartstrings. the last thing i need right now is to give in to him because he breaks down.

i bite the inside of my cheek, not knowing what to say.

"who?"

"daniel-"

"who was it?!"

"i'm not going to-"

"it was crawford wasn't it? i knew it. all his comments on your posts, i knew something was going on," he shakes his head in disbelief.

"no-"

"don't lie to me okay?! i deserve more than that."

i scoff, "are you serious? you deserve nothing from me daniel! the only reason we're even in this mess is because of your insecure, unloyal ass. i'm done with this conversation."

i take one last look at him and storm off, "some fucking birthday this was."

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